Railroad officials raze warehouse destroyed by fire

An old warehouse next to the New Bern rail yard off of North Craven Street, destroyed by fire on Memorial Day, is torn down. Teri Saylor, public affairs director for the building owner, the North Carolina Railroad Co., said work to demolish the building and remove the debris was decided as a matter of safety. The warehouse is located at 901 N. Craven St. It was leased to Precision Molding of New Bern before the fire.

Sun Journal photos

By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 03:14 PM.

An old warehouse next to the
New Bern
rail yard off of
North Craven Street
that was destroyed during a fire on Memorial Day has been torn down and is now just rubble.

Teri Saylor, public affairs director for North Carolina Railroad Co., said demolition work began this week. It is expected to take a week to 10 days to demolish the building and remove the debris.

“We decided to tear it down because there was a little concern of safety from our standpoint,” Saylor said.

N.C. Railroad owns the warehouse located at
901 N. Craven St
. It was leased to Precision Molding of New Bern before it was destroyed by the fire.

The warehouse was part of the
Atlantic
and North Carolina Railroad rail yard dating to the 1850s. The approximately 6,660-square-foot building was constructed of brick, concrete and wood.

No one was in the building, which was used primarily for storage, at the time of the blaze. A metal warehouse next to the building and the New Bern Train Depot that is being restored nearby were not damaged.

People reported seeing flames from the warehouse fire in May from as far as
Bridgeton
.

An old warehouse next to the New Bern rail yard off of North Craven Street that was destroyed during a fire on Memorial Day has been torn down and is now just rubble.

Teri Saylor, public affairs director for North Carolina Railroad Co., said demolition work began this week. It is expected to take a week to 10 days to demolish the building and remove the debris.

“We decided to tear it down because there was a little concern of safety from our standpoint,” Saylor said.

N.C. Railroad owns the warehouse located at 901 N. Craven St. It was leased to Precision Molding of New Bern before it was destroyed by the fire.

The warehouse was part of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad rail yard dating to the 1850s. The approximately 6,660-square-foot building was constructed of brick, concrete and wood.

No one was in the building, which was used primarily for storage, at the time of the blaze. A metal warehouse next to the building and the New Bern Train Depot that is being restored nearby were not damaged.

People reported seeing flames from the warehouse fire in May from as far as Bridgeton.

Danny Hill, New Bern fire marshal, said the fire that destroyed the warehouse is still under investigation.

“It was of a suspicious nature and we are still conducting interviews,” Hill said.

Razing the building will not hamper the investigation, Hill said.

“The building itself will not give us any additional information,” he said. “We feel confident we have gotten all the information we are going to get from the building.”

Hill said he was glad the warehouse would be torn down.

“It is not faring well in the wind storms we are getting and it is definitely ready to come down before someone gets hurt because of it,” he said.

Saylor said there are no plans at this time to do anything with the vacant property once the building is removed.

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at eddie.fitzgerald@newbernsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.